JPMorgan Chase (Gulf) Building

The Gulf Building in Houston, Texas, now called the JPMorgan Chase Building, is one of the preeminent Art Deco skyscrapers in the southern United States. Completed in 1929 it remained the tallest building in Houston until 1963, when the Exxon Building surpassed it in height.

Designed by architects Alfred C. Finn, Kenneth Franzheim, and J. E. R. Carpenter the building is seen as a realization of Eliel Saarinen’s losing but acclaimed entry to the Chicago Tribune Tower competition.

The Gulf Building in Houston, Texas, now called the JPMorgan Chase Building, is one of the preeminent Art Deco skyscrapers in the southern United States. Completed in 1929 it remained the tallest building in Houston until 1963, when the Exxon Building surpassed it in height.

Designed by architects Alfred C. Finn, Kenneth Franzheim, and J. E. R. Carpenter the building is seen as a realization of Eliel Saarinen’s losing but acclaimed entry to the Chicago Tribune Tower competition.

The Texas Commerce Bank started restoration of the building in 1989 in what is still considered one of the largest privately funded preservation projects in American history. They recently carried on restoration efforts, restoring the terrazzo floor in the building’s Banking Hall but keeping the hollows worn into the marble border where generations of customers stood to conduct their banking business. It was JPMorgan Chase that had the building designated a City of Houston Landmark in 2003. The building was already a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Texas Commerce Bank also owned another tall building in Houston, the neighboring Texas Commerce Bank Tower, now the JPMorgan Chase Tower.

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